To birth the solar system, you must first invent the universe. - something Carl Sagan probably would've said. The creation of the solar system is a tale of cosmic evolution that spans billions of years. According to the currently accepted Nebular Hypothesis, approximately 4.6 billion years ago, a vast molecular cloud, possibly 65 light-years across and primarily composed of hydrogen, helium, and traces of heavier elements, floated in the dark depths closer to the center of our then-young Milky Way Galaxy. This enormous nebula, was the cradle of our solar system. A significant event, perhaps a nearby supernova explosion, disturbed the calm of this nebula, causing it to collapse under its own gravity. As it contracted, the nebula began to spin faster and flattened into a rotating disk. At the heart of this collapsing cloud, most of the material clumped together to form a protostar—the nascent Sun. As the protostar continued to accumulate mass, the pressure and temperature at its core increased until nuclear fusion ignited, and it began to shine as a true star. Surrounding the young Sun was a disk of gas and dust, where the remaining material started to gather into smaller clumps, gradually forming larger bodies known as planetesimals. In the hotter, inner regions of this disk, rocky planets began to take shape—Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Farther out, where it was cooler, the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn, along with the ice giants Uranus and Neptune, started to form. As the Sun continued to shine, it emitted powerful solar winds that swept away the leftover gas and dust, clearing the path for the nascent planets to settle into stable orbits. During this time, smaller celestial bodies like moons, asteroids, and comets also formed, many of them remnants of the early planetesimals. Over millions of years, the solar system gradually stabilized. The planets established relatively steady orbits around the Sun, which had reached a stable phase in its life cycle. This long process, spanning tens of millions of years, culminated in the beautifully ordered solar system we observe today, a testament to the dynamic yet orderly forces of cosmic evolution. ▸ Music generously provided by: (Please go support their beautiful music) desert sand feels warm at night https://youtu.be/dxO-DeAEZDM?si=dnRgBqoYfKwitxgc Zerofuturism https://youtu.be/mPYBnlMafS0?si=m1qgtll8orHlvvFj ONHVN ▸ Image/Animation Credits: National Aeronautic and Space Agency NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory JPL, European Space Agency ESA, Goddard Space Flight Center GSFC, John Hopkin's Applied Ohysics Laboratory APL, National Science Foundation NSF Michael Y. Grudić (Northwestern U.) et al., STARFORGE Collaboration European Southern Observatory (ESO) David Butler Pavel Ševeček 0:00 Boundary of the heliosphere (Voyager Spacecraft) 13:35 Pale Blue Dot (Earth seen from Saturn) 19:23 Carl Sagan (Science and Religion) 36:15 Sasha Sagan (Carl's daughter on meaning without Religion) 49:25 3 million years (Of pre-human consciousness) 57:15 Creation myths and birth of the sun (Genesis and the birth of the solar system) 1:19:35 Birth of the planets, moons, asteroids and comets 2:00:00 Thanks for watching, subscribing, liking, and commenting guys :) educational #letsfindout #ASMR #relaxing #space #science ▸ Want to connect or support?
